Things you no longer see/do in the workplace

[TheGrumpiest]

I always really like those threads about food/shops that no longer exist, so I thought I'd start one about the work place. I joined the workforce in the early 90s working for quite large companies.

Luncheon Vouchers - loved these! Like Monopoly money.
Tea trolley lady that came round twice a day. Tea and coffee was free. Small packet of biscuits 5p.
Strippers 😲 A milestone birthday? Getting married? = stripper in the office at lunch time .
Rolls of fax paper on the floor every morning. You had to seperate and tear out each fax with a ruler.
Endless Memorandums with huge circulation lists typed out. You had to cross your name off and pass on to the next name once you had read it!
Friday lunch time = pub. People got quite tipsy.
Lack of HR type processes/concept of people management/development etc. People were just asked to not come back the next day if deemed unsuitable... One lady saw her own (unique) job advertised in the local paper and realised her time was up 😲

BTW these aren't necessarily things I miss about the workplace. Just things that don't exist anymore or not acceptable! Tell us yours!

Are they?

Goodness me, I thought they'd be way gone.

Plastic cups, too?

@EinsteinaGogo yes. And yes too the plastic cups. Tbf you also get those with the plumbed in water dispensers too.

we have several new (covid and post covid builds) industrial estates here, and I’m a contractor, every single one has those water bottles. They have to be carried from storage to where they are needed - no trollies provided! Health and safety be damned. The offices I go in have the plumbed in variety.

Do any of you teachers follow Geoff and Margaret (RetirementTales) on Twitter?

@Alphabet1spaghetti2

Oh wow - i had no idea they were still in use, but to be fair, I work in an office so had no idea about manufacturing.

@EinsteinaGogo 😀 this is a lovely thread! - so many things people think have gone, but haven’t really, even in brand new buildings and new industries. Still have main frame rooms, fixed telephones (dial 9) , white boards, notice boards, fax machines, canteens with serving kitchens attached, designated tables for staff/management/bosses. Etc etc

It's such a great thread, isn't it!!!

I've loved it. Am reminiscing along with everyone 🥰

We still get lunch vouchers at times
also we have pigeon holes
and cakes at the weekly staff meeting or when someone leaves!

And yes we have a canteen and fixed phones also, and white boards, we also have the plugged in water dispensers!

@Cuddlywuddlies you had me at cake…

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 one of my co workers is in the wrong job!! Her cupcakes are to die for!! I nearly cried when I tasted one first 😂

My current job had a clocking in machine when I first started in 2012.
In previous jobs I've had wages in cash in a brown envelope which was soooo exciting.
I worked in an accounts department in the 80s where we priced by hand order sheets. Each member of staff had a huge book of current prices of every item the shop sold. Every time a price changed the whole page it was on had to be re-typed, copied and replaced in the book. My colleagues and I soon memorised the prices of most things stocked and could also price multiples automatically in our heads.
When I moved to the telephone ordering department I used to hand write a huge list of clients phone numbers, copy that and put a copy in each staff members book. Every time a number changed...........
The lovely canteen at John Lewis in Oxford Street, London when I worked there as a Christmas temp.

I wish I could take my grads back in time to a drawing office of the 1980s.
Big drawing boards and pens that blocked up all the time.
Stuff like razor blades and lighter fluid that wouldn't be allowed now.
Letraset.
My job involved taking drawings across town to the copying shop and coming back with blue dye prints then having to fold up sets for the post.
Old guys with angle poise lights covered in stickers.
People talked to each other more, it's less friendly now.

I worked in a drawing office in the 1980s. Dyeline prints stank of ammonia.

You've pretty much described where I work now!
Maybe I have time travelled....

This thread should be sold to film and TV producers doing "period pieces" about the recent past. They need to get all the hilarious details right!

Another one: The crashing of the in-house computer system, followed by a collective groan that concealed a certain elation. This would happen at least once a week in the newspaper office where I worked in the late '80s. The screens would go dead, people would rise from their desks in fake rage that their precious work was being interrupted, then drift out for a smoko or, in my case, to move my car to a different meter then take a nap in the back seat. I knew I'd have a good half hour before the system was restored.